Kiev lets loose Men in Black

Shadowy bands of paramilitaries are taking over in eastern Ukraine as the regular army falters. Bojan Pancevski meets the leaders in Mariupol

A least 21 people died in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine (Petr Shelomovskiy)

WHEN the men in black uniforms cocked their guns and pointed them at us, I
realised that it was a bad idea to make a cold call on Ukrainian
paramilitary forces at their secret hideout in the woods.

“How did you find us? Are you Russian spies?” yelled one, his face twisted
with tension as he waved his 9mm-calibre pistol at my stomach.

Our terrifying encounter came after a drive down a meandering dirt road deep
into a forest near the port city of Mariupol, on the Azov Sea. The men’s
improvised headquarters lies on a small island surrounded by a pond. It is a
hunting lodge that belongs to a local oligarch sympathetic to their cause.

This is the Azov battalion — known as the “Men in Black” — a secretive special
unit of 70 volunteers, one of a number of paramilitary groups set up by the
Ukrainian interior ministry as part